kohoco

I met Ritch Kumhala 14 years ago when I started dating and eventually married his brother Jamie. The first time I met him at the house in Green Bay. He was in a fight with his little brother and slammed the door to the garage. “nice to meet you too!”-
Ritch was always kind to me since the day I met him. We never knew when he would be pop in/or out of our life but that was just Ritch. He’d come stay for a while..and then we wouldn’t hear from him for months. He lived his life by his own rules and on his own terms.
We sure never thought the last time we spent the day with him, Mother’s Day would be our last. It was a nice day though- He played card games with his two nephews until everyone won a game- hid the left-over plastic easter eggs over and over again for them to find. We drove over to his aunt’s house and he chose to walk with the boys. He gave them his Bruce Lee books- but then again he was always giving thoughtful gifts.
I told our sons keep the walk with their Uncle Ritchie that day close to their heart… That and everything he taught them - how to play chess, cards, most importantly the importance of reading-

“give me five- way up high-way down low- too slow”… and he laughed every time...
 

i new ritch also i haven't seen him in quite some time,we go back to when i had lived on ferndale dr. back in the mid 1980,s we had shared alot in common and got to be pretty good friends,we had swapped trucks for motocross bikes amongst some of the things we did we had some great parties over the years and he had even stayed with my wife and i for a short time back in 1996 when we lived in green bay,sadly missed by all of us i now live in the pulaski area for the last 4 years but when my wifes mother had passed we had bumped into ritch back in 2002 and he gave her a hug and said he'd stop sometime but with all of our schedules it never seemed to happen,i vividly remember a party we had at my parents house that ritch had put together and another in which i had driven down the wrong side of highway 29 in my bronco and went through the ditch to get to the othe side of the road,i laugh sometimes to myself thinking of some of these times,we also worked on alot of cars and trucks over the year the firebird that sat at his moms the charger,1977 bronco which had air conditioning that i was in awe about and the 1974 chevy that i traded him with the steering problems i learned alot just from tearing stuff apart with him i guess i could go on but all i have to say in an essence is that ritch will not ever be forgotton or replaced nicest,kindest person to have been in my life rick p.